Andy Stanley preaches to an estimated 33,000 people every Sunday at North Point Ministries' five metro-Atlanta campuses. | Photo courtesy of North Point Ministries
Posted on 01/10/2019 8:11:47 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Andy Stanley preaches to an estimated 33,000 people every Sunday at North Point Ministries' five metro-Atlanta campuses. | Photo courtesy of North Point Ministries
Christians should quit erecting Ten Commandments displays and should instead consider making monuments dedicated to the Sermon on the Mount, popular pastor Andy Stanley said.
In a column published by Relevant Magazine, the North Point Community Church pastor argued that the Ten Commandments are “the old covenant” and no longer apply to believers.
"[I]f we’re going to create a monument to stand as a testament to our faith, shouldn’t it at least be a monument of something that actually applies to us?" he posed.
“Participants in the new covenant (that’s Christians) are not required to obey any of the commandments found in the first part of their Bibles,” wrote Stanley. “Participants in the new covenant are expected to obey the single command Jesus issued as part of his new covenant: as I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
This new commandment is "a replacement for everything in the existing list. Including the big ten," he maintained. "Just as his new covenant replaced the old covenant, Jesus’ new commandment replaced all the old commandments."
Stanley went on to say that he believed so much of the evils committed by churches over history were connected to them trying to mix aspects of the old covenant with Christianity and that although “Jesus was foreshadowed in the old covenant, he did not come to extend it.”
“Dear Christian reader: Why? Why? Why would we even be tempted to reach back beyond the cross to borrow from a covenant that was temporary and inferior to the covenant established for us at Calvary?” Stanley continued.
“The author of Hebrews says it best. Jesus was the ‘guarantor of a better covenant’ (Hebrews 7:22). Later he writes, ‘the new covenant is established on better promises.’ Besides, you weren’t included in the old covenant to begin with! So why are we fighting to build monuments to it?”
Stanley's comments echo the arguments he made in his recent book, Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World, which was released last September.
In the book, Stanley spoke about "old covenant leftovers," stating that he believed Christians had "an uncomfortable history and habit of selectively rebranding aspects of God's covenant with Israel and smuggling them into the ekklesia of Jesus."
Stanley wrote that while the covenant God made with ancient Israel was "divinely ordained," it was also "temporary," adding, "Careless mixing and matching of old and new covenant values and imperatives make the current version of our faith unnecessarily resistible."
Last year, Stanley garnered controversy when he argued in an April sermon that Christians should “unhitch” themselves from the Old Testament.
To justify this, Stanley cited Acts 15, which described how early church leaders decided that Gentile converts did not need to strictly observe Jewish law to become Christians.
"[First century] Church leaders unhitched the church from the worldview, value system, and regulations of the Jewish scriptures," preached Stanley. "Peter, James, Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish scriptures, and my friends, we must as well.”
He argued that what launched Christianity was the resurrection of Jesus, not the Jewish scriptures.
Many, including Messianic Jewish author and radio personality Michael Brown, have denounced Stanley's “unhitch” comments.
"A pastor as influential as Andy Stanley needs to distance himself from such heresies, making a public, clear, and unequivocal correction that undoes the confusion he has caused. (He knows that I write this [as] a friend, out to help, not to hurt.)," wrote Brown in a column last year.
"He can preach against legalism and against Judaizing, exalting the grace of God and celebrating the newness of the New Covenant, without undermining the very foundations on which that New Covenant is established."
Ray Ortlund, senior pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee, and the president of Renewal Ministries, also denounced Stanley’s views in a speech at the Gospel Coalition's West Coast Conference last October.
Preaching from 2 Timothy 1:3-8, Ortlund noted that when the Apostle Paul was writing to Timothy, he stressed his religious heritage through Judaism.
"Paul looks back into his own deepest roots. He goes back to David, to Moses, to Abraham. He reveres the faith that came down to him even filtered through Jewish tradition," said Ortlund.
"Unlike some preachers today, Paul did not 'unhitch' the Christian faith from the Old Testament … And for him personally, Christian conversion did not take his Jewishness away. It made Jesus the Lord over his Jewishness and over his conscience, both of which, he continues to honor."
For his part, Stanley explained that critics needed to understand the context, especially since his remarks were more for an audience that is turned off by biblical arguments.
"I told my kids growing up, if anyone ever asks you 'do you believe Adam and Eve are real people?' here is how you are to answer: do not say 'yes because the Bible says Adam and Eve were real people,'" commented Stanley in an interview with Michael Brown last July.
"You say this: 'I believe Adam and Eve were historical characters because Jesus did. And when somebody predicts their own death and resurrection and pulls it off, I go with whatever they say.'"
Christians (except possibly for Andy Stanley) consider Biblical Judaism, i.e., the Old Testament, to be the word of God, holy scriptures, and the root of the Christian faith. I study the Old Testament scriptures and have no desire to denigrate that part of the Bible.
“For man” means the sabbath was for the benefit of man. You assume that means it was commanded of all men. Let’s see how consistent you are with that assumption.
In Gen. 1.29, God said that He gave every herb as food “for man.” Does this mean God commanded all men to eat all herbs? Do you? Of course not!
In Gen. 2.18, God created woman as a help meet “for man.” Does this mean God commanded all men to have this “help”? Obviously not.
In Gen. 2.16, God said to man, “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you.” Do sabbatarians come to this verse and say “Every moving thing that is alive is food for man. Therefore, God commanded all men to eat every moving thing that is alive”? Do you? Why not. Don’t you believe your own argument enough to obey it consistently?
Why is Mk. 2.27 the only passage where you assume, “for man” means “commanded of all men”? Your own actions show they don’t believe it means that anywhere else in the Bible.
Andy is denying the divinity of Yah'shua. We still need to know what is sin This is another Sign that the Tribulation
shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach
(the Seventieth week of Daniel) is at the Door
Andy rips one verse out of context & builds a theology.
But our sins will only be covered by the blood
of the Lamb of G-d under the Law, if we seek
forgiveness from the condemnation of our sins.
To whom was James written, Bob? 1.1 says, “to the twelve tribes of the dispersion.” These were Jews who hadn’t become Christians.
In chp 2, they were showing respect of persons. James tells them in 2.10 that if they don’t keep all the law of Moses, they’re guilty of all. Doesn’t say a word about Christians!
What does it say about you if you bind sabbath keeping and don’t keep all the law of Moses, Bob?
Andy is preaching Antinomianism.shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach
“the Ten Commandments are the Law of God. Think about that before you flout or change His Law.”
You’re right about the seriousness of changing his law, Bob. However, Heb. 7.12 says, “For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.” Jesus changed the law, didn’t he, not me.
Is it a serious thing for you to change the law of the sabbath to apply to Christians, when Jesus never did?
Agree. I've been through the NT several times and never saw anything that could remotely be interpreted as the other commandments being tossed aside.
Whether ANY of the law of Moses was done away with, there’s still the question of where were Christians ever commanded to keep the sabbath?
You’re right, Bob, and I’m wrong. It is Gen. 9.3.
Thanks
Baloney! Bless his heart.
So, according to Mister Stanley, Christians:
1. Should not believe there is only one true G-d and to have (worship) no other G-d(s)???
2. Can “make a graven image” of other G-d(s) (and bow and pray to it)????
3. Can believe it’s O.K. to take G-d’s (the Lords) name in vain??
4. Can discard sabbath practices and not keep the sabbath as a holy day (a day set aside for our devotion and relationship to G-d)??
5. Need not honor our father and mother??
6. Can commit murder??
7. Can commit adultery?
8. Can steal.
9. Can bare false witness.
10. Can covet our neighbor’s spouse, or house, or possessions???
I DO NOT believe Yeshua taught that He and His reign ends G-d’s word in the Ten Commandments.
How to destroy your credibility in one easy step.
The law Jesus changed was the entire Mosaic Law, containing the ten commandments.
With regard to “forever,” the word comes from aionios, from which we get our “aeon,´which means age, or age-lasting. Still, if it meant eternal, you still haven’t given a passage where Christians were commanded to keep the sabbath.
The following items were enacted “forever”: Passover (Ex. 12.14), priestly trumpets (Num. 10.8), feetwashing (Ex. 30.21), feast of firstfruits (Lev. 23.14), sanctuary lamps (Lev. 24.3), feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23.41), priest’s portion (Lev. 7.36), all God’s commandments (Ps. 119.151-152), and everyone of God’s righteous judgments (Psa. 119.160).
Bob, are you consistent enough to keep any of these FOREVER commandments of God like you say we should keep the sabbath?
Please see post #136, Midwesterner53
Excellent post.
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